Orienteering has been described as "running while playing chess"
Orienteering has been described as
"running while playing chess"
Orienteering is a sport where you have to run in a forest landscape searching for preedefined control-points. You have a map that describes the terrain with the controls marked on the map. You search for the controls in a sequential order. A control-card is used to verify that you have checked all the controls. For more difficult passages in the terrain a compass is used. The runner with the shortest time is the winner.
The map describes the landscape with symbols for all the objects in the terrain like roads, paths, ditches and boulders. The runners skill to read the map, understand the terrain, use the compass and choose the right route decides the running time.
And what is that symbol:
This is the screen placed in the terrain at
the controlpoint so that the runner can find the exact location of the control. It has
also become a symbol for Orienteering.
For more information about the sport Orienteering please see the homepage of the
International Orienteering Federation at www.orienteering.org